Kira ran as fast as he could into deep inside the forest.
The forest tore past Kira in a blur of dark greens and fractured light, branches clawing at his clothes as if the world itself tried to hold him back.
It was becoming more and more dark as he was running somewhere.
The path was certain and familiar for him as he went through that path before also.
That path lead towards the one of village connected to the Rigour town.
The village which was destroyed before by beast and as the dot connects it was the place where everything starts.
His breath was uneven—but his thoughts were sharper than ever.
They trick us—
The same thought echoed into his mind again and again.
"Hk—"
He girted his teeth as he thought.
They wanted us to be occupied and focus on town as they would attack the village.
The attack on the town… a calculated feint. A grotesque misdirection. A staged catastrophe to drag them in like obedient fools.
"…Damn it…"
His teeth ground together.
"While we fought like idiots… they were hunting."
Not like killing but collecting—
They have been deceived like fools.
The realization made something inside him twist violently.
And then as he ran, he stumbles across something beyond his imagination.
The village of Lapa stood before him or what was left out of it.
His eyes widened. He froze as he witnesses something he couldn't take.
The village of Lapa was restored by the villagers after the attack of beasts on them but right now there was nothing left to see.
The destruction was same as before—No—It wasn't destruction anymore. It was annihilation.
The entire place burned like a funeral pyre built for the living. Flames didn't just consume—they devoured, roaring with a hunger that felt almost sentient. Charred corpses littered the ground—twisted, blackened, some barely recognizable as human. The stench—
Oh God... Buddha...
Why the earth cherishes you...
Why the earth worship you...
when prayers choke in the throats of the dying—
tell me…
are you watching—or have you already turned your eyes away from this hell?
—————————
Kira's stomach churned, but nothing came out.
"…What… did they do…"
His voice cracked, barely human.
He forced himself forward, stepping over bodies that crumbled under his feet like ash—
His eyes hovered through the surrounding.
Nothing was left to see but as he gave little effort in seeing. He saw it.
The orphanage.
Collapsed.
Crushed.
Erased.
And in front of it were two figures standing.
One of them stood knee-deep in carnage.
In her hand—
A maid's severed head.
Fresh—Not so lively but the blood was still dripping through it like a freshwater from tap.
Blood trailed down her arm, fingers dug into the scalp as if it were nothing more than discarded trash. Her other arm… no—that thing—wasn't human. It bulged and warped grotesquely, veins pulsing beneath skin that looked half-torn, half-grown—like an animal limb forced onto a human body.
Beside her—
Another woman.
Lady in red.
Standing atop a monstrous beast.
Its body was massive, muscles writhing beneath its hide, its eyes hollow and predatory. And on its back—
Five children.
Thrown there.
Limp.
Unmoving.
Kira's pupils shrank.
"…No…"
He recognized them.
He knew them.
They were the one who Kira saw and feel like them.
They were the one who asked Kira for help before when the village was burning.
And now they laid dead- No They were unconscious.
The world seemed to tilt.
They noticed him.
Of course they did.
The woman holding the head tilted it, blood dripping onto the already soaked ground.
"Should I kill him?"
Her voice was disturbingly casual.
The lady in red shifted his gaze towards her.
"Yes. I failed last time."
A pause.
Cold.
"I'll give you the privilege."
Her voice was disturbingly casual.
A grin spread across the first woman's face—wide, unhinged.
"Thanks~"
Kira hovered his eyes around them.
He recognised the lady in red but the other one who was holding the head was someone he didn't recognised.
Was she from RNC??
She should be right... Then why the heck I am not able to recognise her.
Wait was she one of the elites who were acting as a high ranking and decides what to do and what not for him... For him and his friend.
Yes, she should be... Then how the heck she is alive. She should have died long before when Arc attacked.
No... The same question should be on Lady in red but put aside what their goal now.
What is it?
Ah... Right now, I should protect those children's.
The numerous questions passed into Kira minds, but he decides to focus on saving children's.
Kira moved.
Exploded forward.
Mana erupted violently from his body, crackling with raw fury—
A thunder slash tore through the air as he lunged, lightning screaming from his blade like a wrathful god—
But it cut nothing.
Missed.
Cleanly.
Like they had already seen it coming.
Then—
A sharp, venomous snap.
Too fast.
Too precise.
From the side—
The second woman's arms
twisted, bones cracking as it reshaped—
A scorpion tail.
Grotesque.
Alive.
Thwip—!
The sting pierced straight into Kira's leg.
Deep.
Violent.
"—AAAGH!"
Pain detonated instantly—white-hot, savage. The venom didn't spread—it invaded, crawling through his veins like something alive, gnawing, burning, eating him from the inside.
"I hit him~!" she sang, her voice laced with sick delight.
She raised her tail again—
Ready to pierce deeper—
But—
CLANG!
Steel screamed.
Draves.
He stood between them, blade locked against the stinger, eyes cold enough to freeze blood.
"Back off."
The scorpion woman clicked her tongue, irritated.
Behind them—
The inferno began to die.
Not naturally.
Forcibly.
Ice spread violently across the burning remains, smothering flames with a suffocating hiss.
Riya.
Her breath was shaky—but her eyes were desperate.
"Anyone…? Please—"
Silence.
Then laughter.
Soft.
Cruel.
"They're all dead," the scorpion woman said, almost bored. "Useless ones don't get to live."
Riya froze.
Something in her expression broke.
Completely.
Then—
The woman atop the beast spoke again.
Calm.
Detached.
"We're done here."
Her gaze shifted briefly to Kira.
"We already took the suitable ones."
Suitable.
The word felt like a blade.
Then—
Reality flickered.
The air distorted unnaturally, like the world itself was glitching.
She flicked her fingers.
The beast moved.
No—
It burst forward.
A violent, earth-shaking launch that cracked the ground beneath it.
"STOP—!"
Kira forced himself up, ignoring the agony, ignoring the poison tearing through him—
But his leg collapsed.
Dead weight.
Useless.
He hit the ground hard.
Helpless.
Powerless.
Forced to watch.
As the beast vanished into the burning horizon, Lady in red turned her face backwards.
A smirk—No
A devilish smile left her face.
"Let's die together, my beloved slave."
Then—
Gone.
Just like that.
And all that remained—
Was silence.
And death.
——————————
Kira smashed his hand onto the ground.
"Why am I weak?", He mutters
"Even though you said I have a rare nature of my mana but... It doesn't matter. I don't posses any blessings.", He spoke in a faint voice cursing himself for his incapability, Which Draves listened.
If he had a blessing, the outcome would be different.
Then why?
As he was overwhelmed in his thought a sound came.
Something dragging.
Kira turned—
A figure stumbled out of the forest.
Broken.
Bleeding.
Elvin.
His body looked like it had been torn apart and barely stitched back together. Blood soaked into his clothes, his steps uneven, his breathing ragged.
"—Elvin!"
Kira crawled toward him, ignoring everything else.
But Elvin stopped.
Right in front of him.
His head lowered.
Shoulders trembling.
Kira reached out—
"Hey… are you—"
Elvin raised a hand.
Covered his face.
For a moment—
Nothing
Then a devilish smile came through his face.
"By, this I will reach my dream.", He spoke hiding his face and in a low voice which none of the people present there here.
"Hey, are you ok", Kira ask
"I think so", Elvin downward his hand and showing his cheerful smile on a bruises face.